(29 Oct 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jerusalem – 29 October 2024
1. Mid of United Nations flag
2. Wide exterior of U.N. Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) headquarters
3. Various of UNRWA sign
4. SOUNDBITE (English) John Fowler, UNRWA spokesperson:
“The humanitarian operation in Gaza, if that is unravelled, that is a disaster within a series of disasters and just doesn’t bear thinking about because we are in a situation we are the the backbone of the aid operation. That’s not just us saying that. All other agencies from the U.N. on our logistical platforms, our thousands of staff, to be able to do our work. So if you take the backbone out of a body, you the know, the body doesn’t exactly stand up.”
5. Wide of U.N. car and storage hanger inside the UNRWA compound
6 Various of U.N. sign on a transport truck
7. SOUNDBITE (English) John Fowler, UNRWA spokesperson:
“So it’s all very well, sort of saying, ‘We have no right to be here.’ And we’ve heard this before, but we have a valid lease on this land, and that lease was with the Jordanians and then when there was the change of control in East Jerusalem in 1967, our rights to be here was upheld by the Israeli authorities. There has been contestation about this but we’re in a situation now where as far as we’re concerned, the position is unchanged, and internationally, legally, there is no change.”
8. SOUNDBITE (English) John Fowler, UNRWA spokesperson:
“The idea that other agencies can step up, that’s one, logistically impossible, but two, it’s also unacceptable to unilaterally to decide to separate out different parts of the U.N. system in a kind of pick and mix basis. That’s unprecedented.”
9. Various of UNRWA building exterior
10. Close of UNRWA sign
11. SOUNDBITE (English) John Fowler, UNRWA spokesperson:
“What is lost is potentially the lives of the people in the Gaza Strip. Because we are the essential player in the humanitarian operation. The population is on life support there, and if you unplug the machine, which we are, the consequences are kind of obvious. That’s the risk. In a broader sense, also in the West Bank, jobs are lost, clinics are closed, the level of well-being in the population that’s another concern.”
12. Mid of UNRWA headquarters exterior
13. Mid of U.N. flag
STORYLINE:
UNWRA warned on Tuesday of a humanitarian disaster in Gaza following Israel’s decision to ban it from operating on Israeli soil and cut all ties with the agency.
Israel controls access to both Gaza and the occupied West Bank, and it was unclear how the agency would continue to operate there.
Israel says UNRWA has been infiltrated by Hamas and that the militant group siphons off aid and uses U.N. facilities to shield its activities, allegations denied by the U.N. agency.
Aid groups have warned that there is no immediate replacement for UNRWA, which provides education, health care and emergency aid to millions of Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation and their descendants. Refugee families make up the majority of Gaza’s population.
"We are the the backbone of the aid operation. That’s not just us saying that. All other agencies from the U.N. on our logistical platforms, our thousands of staff, to be able to do our work," said John Fowler, an UNRWA spokesperson.
“What is lost is potentially the lives of the people in the Gaza Strip. Because we are the essential player in the humanitarian operation. The population is on life support there, and if you unplug the machine, which we are, the consequences are kind of obvious," he added.
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